It was the month of May 1976 in Khandala when I was undergoing the second phase of the internship program designed for developing those who participated in it into a qualified professional member. Our facilitator and trainer were Professor Gouranga Chattopadhyay and Professor Indira Parikh.

One of the most important insights that I experienced into myself and also as an experimential understanding of human nature and personality was : " I had a vivid existential feeling that I am a 'cloud' as well as a 'mountain' at the same time" - this came in a flash.

Perhaps there is, in each human being a soft nature symbolized by everything that goes with the imagery of a cloud.

The cloud is amorphous,moving and soft. It has shape and substance in a manner which is unique and different from any hard, concrete object. It evokes certain feelings symbolized in an immortal way by Kalidas in his Meghdoot.

In Indian context (perhaps also in a universal context), the cloud has great mythical meaning related to being intimately connected with life (cloud-rain-water-nature-nurturance). The mountain symbolizes hardness, concreteness, strength, sense of stability and firmness. The mountain has its own allure and attraction.

For a richer development of the potential and the personality of an individual, one needs to cherish and at the same time balance and synthesize qualities of the "cloud" as well as the "mountain".

For the past more than two decades, I have been attempting to nurture both the cloud and the mountain in me in a balanced manner. Also ,in my professional work, I have been helping individuals, groups and organizations to synthesize "software" and the "hardware" in the organization.

----Gopal K. Valecha